The UK does not “make as much use of open prisons” as it could, a former Conservative justice minister has suggested.

David Gauke, who is leading the Government’s sentencing review, also told the Times that “we have run out of space” in prisons and there is “an opportunity” for things to change.

Speaking to the newspaper following visits to three prisons in Spain where reforms have included greater use of open prisons, Mr Gauke, said: “We don’t make as much use of open prisons as we might do.

“You might spend part of your day out of a prison working, and then return to sleep at night — if that gets you into the rhythm of working and the disciplines of working then that is helpful.”

Mr Gauke, who served as justice secretary between January 2018 and July 2019 under Theresa May was appointed earlier this year to lead a Government sentencing review, which aims to explore tougher punishments outside of prison while also making sure there is space to incarcerate the most dangerous offenders.

Mr Gauke told the newspaper: “There is clearly an opportunity here.

“We’re at the beginning of a parliamentary term with the Government with a large majority.

“We have run out of space.

“I think there is an increasing recognition that we have gone down the route of increasing sentences to an extent that it’s doing nothing to reduce crime but it is causing significant costs.

“Other countries have had large prison populations and brought them down.

“What I hope to do with this review is set out practical proposals, but also this is an opportunity to reset the debate.

“This is not about being soft on crime, it is about more effectively reducing crime.”

Earlier in December, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said that building alone” will not be enough to deal with the overcrowding crisis.

She said that “we will have to expand the range of punishment outside of prison”, adding: “That does mean that we will have more offenders monitored outside.”

The Ministry of Justice has promised to find a total of 14,000 cell spaces in jails by 2031.

Some 6,400 of these will be at newly built prisons, with £2.3 billion towards the cost over the next two years.

Asked whether the estate would run out of cells within three years, even with 14,000 extra places, the Justice Secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme earlier this month: “We will run out because even all of that new supply, with the increase in prison population that we will see as a result of that new supply, doesn’t help you with the rise in demand, because demand is still rising faster than any supply could catch up with.”